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Violetta DiNozzo
Violetta DiNozzo is an American singer, songwriter and producer. She began her URAPS career in late November 2008, when promotion began on her debut single "Wicked". The single was a commercial failure, peaking outside of the top 20. After that disappointing start to her career, Violetta worked hard and fought her way to the top, having earned herself two career #1 albums and three chart-topping hits to-date. Violetta is due to release her fourth studio album in 2013, which she is working on with her production team, the Darling Violetta Project. Early Life Violetta was born on February 14th, 1991 to parents Mahalia and Anthony DiNozzo (not to be confused with the NCIS character). Mahalia was previously married to Wilfred Strong, father of Phoenix Rising pianist and vocalist Victor Strong, making Violetta and Victor half-siblings. Violetta lived most of her life unaware that she had a brother until she was 14, when she found out about her mother's previous marriage and learned that she had in fact attended the same high school as her brother, having been a freshman during his senior year. Violetta was not popular in school; her talent couple with a teen ego caused Violetta several enemies, and she was the victim of verbal bullying, gossip and slander. The teen had always had an intense interest in music, drawing inspiration from the sounds of such artists as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston. It was these singers that drove Violetta to develop her voice to its maximum potential, which she did; self-taught, she developed a 4-octave vocal range (from C3-C7) which she used to great effect in school productions. She played the lead of Christine Daae in "Phantom Of The Opera", the most adventurous of her school's productions, to stunning effect despite having no formal vocal training, either in classical or contemporary. Her performance in "Phantom Of The Opera" drew the attention of A&R people from major labels such as Def Jam, RCA and Epic. At 16, she signed a 3-album record deal with Epic, and went straight to work on her debut album. Music ''"Just Another Girl"'' Era Violetta refused assistance from professional writers when sourcing material for the album, opting instead to write her own songs; this was an unpopular move with her record label. Violetta gained eleven writing credits on the album; eight were completely solo and three were co-writes. Since Violetta wrote almost the entire record single-handedly, it was Epic's condition that she only work with the producers they chose for her. The teen worked with such producers as Danja, JR Rotem and Rodney Jerkins, but played a major role in the production of the album, at the time having a clear vision of how she wanted the record to sound and which direction she was going musically; again, this proved to be unpopular with her label, since they saw her input as undermining their efforts to turn her into a hit-maker, and that she had no clue what she was doing due to her inexperience. "Just Another Girl" came together quickly; and with the instant success of her elder brother Victor Strong with Phoenix Rising's "Rewritten" in the UK, Violetta decided to take on the UK too at the same time she released her material stateside. The electronica-influenced song "Wicked" (produced by JR Rotem) was chosen as the debut single, and was released on December 8th. Commercially, the song was a failure in both territories, gaining minimal airplay in both the US and UK, and failing to make the Billboard Hot 100 (although it peaked at #7 on the Bubbling Under chart). In the UK the song fared a little better; while it debuted outside the top 20 and did not manage to crack it, sales remained fairly consistent and after it spent seven weeks on the chart, the single has sold 61,745 copies. Due to the commercial failure of "Wicked" Violetta chose to take a different approach with her follow-up single "Two Steps Back" opting instead for a tried-and-true pop-rock song, which was musically similar to Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You". The song was produced by Danja. Public reception of the song was somewhat positive, and the single was adequately received by critics, enough so that it charted in the top 10 in the UK market with a #7 peak and making top 15 on airplay. In the US, it peaked in the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and just inside the top 20 on CHR/POP radio. The album, "Just Another Girl" was released on the 19th to coincide with the release of "Two Steps Back". The 13-track disc featured collaborations with it-girl China as well as Monaghan brothers Alexei and Raphael, and her half-brother Victor, who co-wrote "Wicked". Following the strong debuts of 'Two Steps Back' and 'Just Another Girl', Violetta was signed to Elite Records. The third single, "House Of Cards", proved to be the biggest hit of the album. It peaked lower than "Two Steps Back", however it lasted longer on chart and sold in excess of 100,000 copies, a first for Violetta in the UK. Stateside, the song cracked top 10 on CHR/POP radio and peaked inside the top 20 on the Hot 100. Remixes of the song propelled "House Of Cards" into a top 5 peak on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In 2011, a boxed set featuring the album and all its singles was released to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the album's original release. The set featured re-issued artwork for every release included, as Violetta's image had changed drastically since her debut era. Also in 2011, Violetta chose to honour the 10th anniversary of URAPS by releasing the 4th and final single from the album, "You'll Wish You Hadn't". Originally planned as the 4th single from the album during its first run, plans were scrapped after an incident at the 16th URAPS awards required Violetta to undergo urgent facial reconstructive surgery. The single was premiered on Violetta's 20th birthday, and will be supporting the boxed set re-issue of its parent album. For the single release, Violetta re-wrote and re-recorded the song, which was remixed by trance duo Svensen & Gielen. The song will not be released as a single in the US. ''"Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned"'' Era Violetta moved on quickly after the mild success of her first album era, getting straight to work on her follow-up. She decided to move her sound in the direction of electronica and trance music, feeling that songs like "Devil's Playground" were what she wanted to make. Violetta enlisted the aid of trance producers and remixers such as Above & Beyond, Brian Transeau and Junkie XL to work with her on the album, however US label Epic stepped in again when they believed that trance music would prove to be unmarketable in America. The label hired pop producers such as Guy Sigsworth and Max Martin to work with Violetta on material, leading Violetta to the decision that she create a double-album, with one disc containing her pop material and the other containing all her trance songs. The double album was released in the UK, but when Epic were still unsatisfied with the output, they ordered pop remixes of Violetta's trance songs, and created a single-disc album entitled 'Sanctuary' featuring tracks from both sides of the expanded UK version. Out of the songs originally penned for the album, Violetta had thirteen writing credits. Songs written by China and Syd Wolfe were also provided. Violetta chose to cover the songs "Bullet" by Jessie James and "Crazy Possessive" by Kaci Battaglia originally, until pop singer Sabrina, who shared studio time with Violetta, stole the song and re-recorded it for herself, leading Violetta to choose another cover, "A Million Pieces" by Emmy Rossum. Her US label Epic then gave her a song to record for the album, a cover of "You Saved Me Tonight" by Australian singer Anthony Callea. Violetta was opposed to recording the song, which Epic insisted was to be a duet, so she chose to duet with emo-rock singer Jace Clemson on the duet. Epic later tried to intervene by replacing Jace's vocals with more pop-friendly vocals by Taylor Wolfe but Violetta refused. Epic eventually had their way however, by forcing Violetta to record the song 'Superfabulous' with Taylor for inclusion on her US album. The song would also feature on the 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Weak & Powerless' singles. The first single lifted from the album, "...And You Are?" was a duet with close friend Danelle Becker and was the last song written for the album. It was originally intended to be just a one-off single to pull Danelle back into the pop arena but due to its success was added to the UK edition of the album. Produced by RedOne, it went on to be Violetta's then-highest peaking single in the UK at #6 on both the airplay and sales charts. It gained enough curiosity stateside to chart on the Hot 100 despite not being released in the US. The single is not considered to be the first single from the album, as it was added late to the tracklist. The second single from the album, considered the lead single, was double A-Side "Little Red Riding Hood / Weak & Powerless" which received strong positive reaction. Following the breakthrough caused by "...And You Are?", the single thrived - debuting at #4 before rising in its second week for a peak of #3. The single sold 239,120 copies - just shy of platinum, remaining on chart for thirteen weeks. 'Little Red Riding Hood' was released alone in the US as the first single. The song got off to a slow start, and was nearly replaced by Taylor Wolfe duet 'Superfabulous' but it took off once plans were being set into motion to launch the alternate single. It became Violetta's first top 10 hit in the US with strong airplay. "Smash Some Windows" was the third single to be lifted from the album in the UK; it is Violetta's biggest solo hit to-date in both the UK and the US. Debuting and peaking at #3 in the UK, the single became Violetta's best-selling solo hit with 273,379 copies sold - Violetta's second highest sales tally behind 'I Didn't Mean It' with Esmeralda Dimuzio. It is Violetta's second-biggest UK airplay hit, second to the Tiesto remix of 'Connect The Dots'. In the US, the song became Violetta's first #1 anywhere, despite not being officially released by Violetta's label. The single barnstormed radio stations with both the original version and the urban remix featuring Loretta Lambert and Syd Wolfe receiving strong airplay. The single amassed sales of both versions, helping to shoot the single right to the top, pushing aside 'Superfabulous' once again as a US single. In the UK Violetta released the China duet "Connect The Dots (Tiesto Remix) / Hope", of which the main single was remixed by DJ Tiesto for inclusion on Violetta's album. The single was originally pencilled in for a February 15th release, but with strong competition scheduled for the same date the release was brought forward a week to February 8th, pitting Violetta against DAMNED and Taylor Wolfe. In light of the tragedy in Haiti, Violetta recorded a version of 'Hope' by Idina Menzel and attached it to the release of her single. The proceeds of 'Hope' were donated to the Haiti Relief fund; the song saw most of its success in the US, where 'Connect The Dots' was not given a mainstrean release. In the UK, the single debuted at #2 just behind DAMNED, and while it was not Violetta's strongest-selling single (it sold 215,223 copies) it was an enormous airplay hit for 2010, and may well be one of the top 10 airplay hits of the year. "A Million Pieces / Lovekill" was the 5th UK release from the album. 'A Million Pieces' was also the US follow-up to 'Smash Some Windows'. The song was tipped to give Violetta her first #1, but in a fierce chart battle with newcomer girl group Thorn City Violetta fell just short of the mark to enter at #2 once again. The single provided Violetta with her biggest-ever sales week, and overall it topped out at 206,143 copies. 'A Million Pieces' was a strong airplay hit while 'Lovekill' was largely ignored. 'Lovekill' was recorded for a covers album released by Violetta's then-record label Elite Records. A cover of the Logan Cross hit, Violetta's rendition was well-received, and Logan even appeared with Violetta on 'Loveslain', a remix of 'Lovekill' featuring new lyrics by Violetta. Violetta's UK label folded mid-year in 2010, but Violetta quickly re-signed with Alias Records, the record label owned and run by Esmeralda Dimuzio. Under the new label, Violetta completed preparations for her own "Behind Enemy Lines" solo tour (despite most of the funding coming from Elite Records, who already paid for posters advertising the show) and prepared a tour edition of "Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned". The new edition featured material cut from Violetta's 3rd album, as they did not fit the direction Violetta intended to take with the project. The tour edition was a single-disc edition featuring all the singles alongside the new material, as well as selected songs from the remaining material that made up the original album. To support the tour edition, Violetta teamed up with Esmeralda to release "I Didn't Mean It", which became Violetta's best-selling single to date with sales of 303,603 copies. The single provided Violetta her first sales and airplay #1's in the UK, and helped the tour edition of the album ascend to #1 on the albums chart. The single was a major airplay hit. In the US, it was released as the first and only single from "Dealbreaker", a low-budget compilation made up of material previously unreleased in the US that served as Violetta's 3rd US album, in order to let Violetta out of her 3-album contract with Epic. ''"Divide & Conquer"'' Era Violetta mentioned throughout the 'Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned' era that she intended to form a collaborative effort for her 3rd album, involving a guitarist and a producer. In December of 2010, Violetta announced that she had achieved this, bringing onboard DJ/Producer Katrina Benson and guitarist Raphael Monaghan to form The Darling Violetta Project, a production team assembled to bring forth Violetta's vision of a trance/rock hybrid sound for her 3rd album. Katrina was a DJ that Violetta hired to travel with her during the "Behind Enemy Lines" tour. Upon discovered that Katrina also made her own productions, Violetta began to work on demos with her, bringing in close friend Raphael Monaghan (guitarist and bassist, as well as younger brother of Phoenix Rising's Alexei Monaghan) to play live guitars and bass for the demos. Violetta intended to hire other people for the final project until she noticed just how well she worked together with Raphael and Katrina, and decided that she'd found her team. A number of tracks Violetta originally prepared for the record were cut because they did not fit the trance/rock sound Violetta was hoping to achieve. These were included on the tour edition of 'Sacred/Damned'. Another major point of the collaborative effort was to open the floor to a number of other songwriters; where Violetta had penned the majority of her first two albums, she now enlisted the songwriting talents of Logan Cross, China, Elice Claire, Ben Johnston, Syd Wolfe, Yannik McQueen and Halle York. Logan's contribution "Socks" was cut from the project and instead was one of the tracks used for the tour edition of 'Sacred/Damned'. Raphael Monaghan will have songwriting credits on the album alongside Violetta, but the greater portion of material for the album was penned by other writers. In February 2010, Violetta described how packaging the album under the 'Darling Violetta Project' moniker proved undesirable, with only luke-warm response to the idea of Violetta forming a group; Violetta confirmed however that the Darling Violetta Project would live on as her production team for both her own material and for remix projects. The first single is so far undecided; originally it was intended to be "Louder Than Words / Rip It Up" but since the Darling Violetta Project moniker was scrapped it is unknown what the first single will be instead. Violetta has chosen April as a tentative month for the new material to be released. Other Projects Violetta competed in the 2009 Tango Challenge. It had been announced that her partner for the challenge was to be Kaci Trent. However, after Kaci disappeared, Violetta was re-assigned to work with The Infinite for the challenge. Their double A-side single "Devil's Playground / Do Me Dirty" was released on the date of the challenge, February 23rd. Both songs performed decently at radio, with "Devil's Playground" peaking at #6 (making it the highest radio peak for both artists to-date) and "Do Me Dirty" peaking at #12. As a whole, the single peaked at #11 on the singles chart in its opening week, however it only lasted three weeks on chart. In December of 2009 Violetta joined forces with friend Danelle Becker, as well as Sabrina and legendary artist Deltra to form the Sisters Against Shitty Singers, a four-piece girl group dedicated to taking down a number of acts on URAPS who have been deemed horrible and useless. The group's single "Queens Of Anarchy" was co-written by Violetta, Sabrina and Danelle, and is set to be released January 11th, 2010. The single made the top 10 but overall was a failure. Violetta has since distanced herself from the single, stressing that she was never meant to be a key player in the group dynamic. Violetta intended to invite SASS back for a reunion performance at the opening show of her "Behind Enemy Lines" tour, but due to the death of Sabrina, and a falling-out with Deltra this plan was scrapped and Violetta instead invited drag queens to impersonate the other girls during the show. Later, a SASS 2.0 line-up was planned, with Uravision contestant Faith DeLuna and Cassie Fox taking Sabrina's and Deltra's places. The aim was to pool together a collection of single releases into a single EP, but Faith's attitude forced Cassie to pull out of the group. Violetta kicked Faith out of the line-up and intended to forge on with Danelle as a duo, but issued arose leading to the cancellation of planned single "Addicted / Atlantis", which would have been the 7th release from both Violetta's and Danelle's albums. Violetta toured with Indigo Peak on the Japanese leg of their Arcadium Live tour, and was intended to return as a support act for the European leg for their Stage Invaders: World Tour performing in France, Italy and Spain alongside Sandi Cohen and Brett Clarkson. However, Indigo Peak took a break and Violetta's leg of the tour didn't happen. Violetta later went on tour as a support act for Emily Henning playing all of her UK dates. Violetta used this tour as an spring board to test out ideas for her "Behind Enemy Lines" tour which commenced almost directly after her part in Emily's tour reached its conclusion. Violetta was chosen to be the vocal coach on URAPS Idol 11, and was required to offer wildcard suggestions during the heats, inviting competitors back for a final chance to make the top 10. Violetta invited Tanzie Carter back as her wildcard suggestion after previous choises Liam Harris and Ben Rossdale were unavailable. Tanzie did not make the top 10, but later did make the top 10 for URAPS Idol: Second Chance. As vocal coach, Violetta's initial job was to provide song suggestions for each of the contestants to suit the theme of each round, but later she was elevated to the position of judge after Paulo Araujo's forced exit due to falling comatose. In December of 2010, Violetta announced The Darling Violetta Project, a collaborative effort between herself, guitarist Raphael Monaghan (known to be the younger brother of Phoenix Rising's Alexei Monaghan) and DJ/Producer Katrina Benson, whom Violetta worked with on her "Behind Enemy Lines" tour. Together, the trio worked on Violetta's 3rd album. Violetta originally envisioned the Darling Violetta Project as a group which was to be fronted by Violetta herself, but this proved to be unpopular and upon urges from label staff and colleagues the Darling Violetta Project was terminated as a commercial outlet. Violetta retained Raphael and Katrina as her production team however, and completed the album with them as planned. Personal Life Violetta is close friends with China, the two having met due to working with China's fiance Alexei Monaghan when working on initial tracks for the album, and bonding with the fellow teen singer when in the studio recording the duet "Connect The Dots". The teen has also work with a lot of other artists in the industry, having written, recorded and produced a number of demos which she shopped out to other artists. Aftershock, Kaylee Walker and China are a few examples of artists who have received Violetta-penned tracks for various releases. Most recently, Violetta contributed a song to the debut album of the Ace Rejects. Controversy A highly-charged public feud erupted between Violetta and Halle York of DAMNED fame, when Halle proceeded to belittle Violetta's efforts to make it in the industry. Violetta did not take the insult lightly, which resulted in Halle instigating a vicious rumour that the teen was not who she claimed to be; that she instead was really Marshall Holmes, brother of Camilla Holmes. The teen has actively denied these allegations which continue to persist. The feud came to an end when Violetta's professional behaviour and the quality of her music improved. By the time DAMNED retired, Halle and Violetta held a great deal of respect for each other, having overcome their differences. Violetta was also known for less-than-professional behaviour during her earlier live performances; there were at least two reported incidents of the teen halting in the middle of a song to rant, argue or complain with her audience. During one show, it was reported that a fan attempted to steal the singer's shoes while she was wearing them. At another, a mother and her pre-teen daughter were escorted from the venue after sparking an argument with the singer over the lack of a wholesome image. In more recent days Violetta's stagecraft and her professional conduct have improved greatly. During the promotion of "...And You Are?" Violetta and Danelle became involved in a feud with newcomer Tynisha, who was partially the inspiration behind the song. The feud escalated when a handful of other artists entered the feud against Tynisha, leading to the creation of the 'Anti-Nisha Alliance', a short-lived group dedicated to bringing Tynisha down. Violetta was not comfortable as part of the group and quickly disassociated herself from it after friend Paris used the alliance to turn on Syd Wolfe for kicking her off Syd's tour. The alliance fell apart after this, and Violetta attempted to make peace with Tynisha. Violetta had an abrupt break-up from her first known boyfriend. Known only as 'Eddie', he was a production runner for Violetta's "House Of Cards" music video, where the couple first met. Before long, he had moved into her house, where paparazzi first learned of his existance as he was moving in. In August 2009 it was discovered that Eddie was cheating on Violetta with Bleak September. Bleak didn't know Eddie and Violetta were dating or living together, so when the affair came to light both girls dumped him, and he was forcibly evicted from Violetta's life and home. Discography Albums Singles Category:Urapopstar Category:1991 births Category:Female artists